Socket clearing and removing tool



June 7, 1932.

J J. M GUCKIN SOCKET CLEARING AND REMOVING TOOL Fiied April 28 Patented June 7, 1932 ,TED ATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN J. MCGUCKIN, OF PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY,,ASSIGNOR TO RINCK-MCILWAINE, INCL,

' OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK SOCKET CLEARING AND REMOVING TOOL App lication fil ed April 28, .1930; Serial No. 447,857.

My invention relates to improved means for detaching and removing the sockets of eletric bulbs from their seats and for grasping and manipulating electrical connections, and

the like.

Objects of my invention are to provide means for clearing out sockets, from which electric bulbs may have been broken or detached, in combination with means for expansively grasping the socket from within, in

order to unseat and remove it; in combining in the same tool such socket clearing and'removing means with means for grasping and turning a cyiindrical, electrical connection; and in providing such other improvements in construction as are hereinafter particularly pointed out.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a plan view of a tool embodying my improvements; F ig. 2 is an elevation, partly in section, of an electric bulb socket or base, and a portion of its seat, from which the bulb has been broken away; Fig. 3 is an end view of my tool taken as looking down on Fig. l; and Fig. 4 is a detail of the screw driver terminal taken at right angles to Fig. 1.

The tool is formed of a pair of pivoted members combining handle shanks 1, 2, provided with cooperating fingers 3, 4 and connected together with a pivot, as 5. The fun gers 3, 4 are, preferably, rounded, the end of each finger representing something less than a full semicircle; so that the fingers have to be separated somewhat in order for their curvatures to assume their true position in the circumference of an enclosing circle.

The ends of these fingers are provided with a series of teeth 14, 14-, preferably formed between radial notches 6, 6, the teeth having 40 comparatively sharp edges; and the fingers 4 are also knurled or provided with other irregularities of surface adapting them to resist longitudinal withdrawal of the tool from, and rotation in an opening in which it may be expanded.

The handle shanks of the tool are preferably provided with an expanding spring, as 7, operating to keep the fingers 3, 4 normally closed.

The handle shanks 1, 2 are provided with approximately semi-cylindrical sockets 8, 9, the curves of which are struck to coincide substantially with the circumference of a true circle when the handles are forced toward each other a certain distance so that this portion of the tool may be used to seize and manipulate a cylindrical, electrical connection or to seize and manipulate'such a socket as is shown in Fig. 3 when its position permitsit to be reached and grasped by the tool.

In connection with the use of such a toolit is frequently desirable to reach and manipulate the slotted heads of threaded bolt connections. or that purpose I find it desirable to elongate one of the'handle members, 5 as 2, and to form on its end a screw driver elementas 10. This permits the tool to be thrust into an opening and manipulated as a screw driver without undue interference from the cooperating shank 1; I

As is well known in the art, electric light bulbs are held in their sockets, such as 1 1, by a quantity of cementitious material, as 12, which is adapted to hold the bulbs rigidly in place in the sockets.- And it is a rather common thing for the bulbs to become loosened and broken away from the cement and their sockets, or for the body of the bulb to be broken away from its neck, leaving portions of the neck still adhering to the cement in the socket. Because of thepositions in which lighting bulbs, for instance such bulbs as are commonly used in automobiles, are placed it is often difficult to conveniently reach these sockets and to remove them from their seats. To facilitate that operation I have produced the tool above described and it'may be conveniently used by pressing the closed fingers down against the broken glass or cement remaining in the socket and grinding or breaking the glass or cement away by rotating the tool, the terminal teeth of which quickly loosen the cement and break it away from its seat in the socket, thus permitting the fingers to be thrust well down into the socket. The fact that the fingers may be spread away from each other permitsthem to be separated so as to effectually cover, when rotated, the entire bottom space of the socket, so that any cement within it may be ground or broken away,

to admit the proper insertion of the tool. The knurling on the fingers also assists in grinding or breaking off the cement from the inside of the socket. After the socket has been satisfactorily cleared of cement, the fingers are then expanded by closing the handles 1, 2 towardv each other, thus gripping the inside of the socket with the knurled or roughened surfaces of the fingers 3, 4 and establishing a firm grip by the tool on the socket, so that it can be readily moved and its locking pins 13, freed from the sockets in which they are conventionally held, and the socket entirely with drawn from its seat, after which the pressure upon the handles 1, 2 may be released and the fingers 3, 4 allowed to close, so as to free the socket from the tool.

In case the socket stands sufficiently above its seat to be gripped in the semi-circular recesses 8, 9 in the handles 1, 2, the handles may be manipulated to grasp the socket and remove it from the seat. And this feature of the tool may also be conveniently utilized in tightening or loosening the cylindrical couplings or connections which are commonly used in lighting systems such as are employed in automobiles, and similar places.

Also, as has been said, the screw driver feature of the lengthened handle shank 2 may be conveniently used in reaching into recesses and similar places toactuate slot-headedbolts, and the like.

I desire it to be understood that details of construction of my tool may be modified, as by the use of mechanical equivalents and the like, without departing from the spirit of my invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a tool of the character described, a pair of cooperating shanks pivoted together, each shank being provided with a finger having a blunt end disposed substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the tool and provided with serrations radiating outwardly from a central point on the inner edge of the end, the fingers being separable but normally closed against each other.

2. In a tool of the character described, a pair of cooperating shanks pivoted together, each shank being provided with an approximately semi-cylindrical finger having a blunt end disposed substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the tool and provided with serrations radiating outwardly from a central point on the inner edge of the end, the fingers being separable but normally closed against each other.

3. In a tool of the character described, a pair of cooperating shanks pivoted together, each shank being provided with an exteriorly knurled finger having a blunt end disposed substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the tool, and provided with tially at right angles to the longitudinal. axis of the tool and provided with serrations radiating outwardly from a central point on the inner edge of the end, the fingers being separable but normally closed against each other.

' JOHN J. MCGUOKIN. 

